Iran cleric warns US against ‘playing with fire’

A senior Iranian cleric has warned the next president of the United States against repeating his predecessors’ mistakes about Iran, saying Washington must avoid “playing with fire.”

“Iranians are a brave nation. Beware, toying with Iran is [like] playing with fire,” said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami during a sermon to worshipers at the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran.

He added that if the US president-elect Donald Trump follows the same path as his predecessors, he would undoubtedly face the same fate.

“The American people are weary of adventurism of the country’s statesmen across the world,” the cleric said.

He added that wherever the slightest turmoil breaks out, the US shows up and said the country’s taxpayers’ money is spent to murder people in Yemen, Syria and other countries.

Khatami said a country grappling with so many problems cannot end the plights of other nations and expressed hope that Trump would act wisely and steer clear of tensions with any country.

On the US presidential election, he added, the Islamic Republic pursued impartiality which was a “very prudent and reasonable policy.”

After the presidential election, Iran also adopted a wise stance because it does not “interfere in [the affairs of] any country and respects the countries’ nations and their votes,” Khatami said and noted that Tehran has been committed to this policy since the victory of the Islamic Revolution some 37 years ago.

US Republican presidential candidate Trump won more than the required 270 electoral votes in the 2016 presidential election on Wednesday, becoming the 45th president of the United States.